1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a gas-generating device, and more particularly, to a hydrogen-generating device.
2. Description of Related Art
A fuel cell (FC) is a power generation device capable of directly converting chemical energy into electricity. Taking a proton exchange membrane FC as an example, an operation principle thereof is as follows. Hydrogen is oxidized in an anode catalyst layer to generate hydrogen ions (H+) and electrons (e−), or methanol and water are oxidized in the anode catalyst layer to generate hydrogen ions (H+), carbon dioxide (CO2), and electrons (e−), wherein the hydrogen ions could be transmitted to a cathode through a proton exchange membrane, and the electrodes are transmitted to a load through an external circuit, and then are transmitted to the cathode. At the meantime, oxygen supplied to the cathode and the hydrogen ions and the electrodes may carry out a reduction reaction in a cathode catalyst layer to generate water. The fuel hydrogen gas for the anode hydrogen oxidation reaction may be obtained through a solid sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrogen storage technology which relies on the reaction of water and the solid sodium borohydride to produce the hydrogen gas.
In more details, the solid sodium borohydride could be placed in a reaction tank and water is guided into the tank to react with the solid sodium borohydride to generate hydrogen. In order to increase the reaction speed of the water and the solid sodium borohydride, the water is guided into the reaction tank from multiple locations through a specific channel design and it is referred as water-feeding at multiple points. However, such scheme requires a too-complicated channel and the entire structure volume is increased. In addition, a water pump with a larger static-pressure is required to pump water into a fuel tank. In particular, when the water reacts with the solid sodium borohydride in the reaction tank to generate hydrogen, the hydrogen will find relief towards the low-pressure locations of the reaction tank so that it is unable to drive the water to arrive at all the portions of the solid sodium borohydride through the flowing of the hydrogen, which makes partial solid sodium borohydride unable to react with the water to reduce the hydrogen-generating efficiency.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070243431 discloses a fuel cartridge containing a solid fuel for generating hydrogen and a catalyst, wherein the liquid reactants enters from the entrance of the fuel cartridge to react with the solid fuel to generate hydrogen, and the hydrogen is expelled from a side outlet of the fuel cartridge. Taiwan Patent Application Publication No. 200642156 discloses a cartridge, which includes a reservoir and a reaction chamber. When the cartridge connects the receiver, a first reactant in the reservoir could be sent to the reaction chamber, while a second reactant in the reaction chamber would react with the first reactant. Taiwan Patent Application Publication No. 200904747 discloses a hydrogen machine, wherein a reaction chamber has a filling port and a discharge port, the user could fill the reaction solution and the metal material into the reaction chamber for reaction via the filling port. The hydrogen generated in the reaction chamber is output from a hydrogen output pipe to the corresponding device for use.